So here we are, it's my 2-week Christmas Break and the stinking weather is
forecast to be rainy THE WHOLE WEEK!!! Luckily there were a few days of reprieve now and again which was just long enough for things to dry out a bit before the next downpour hit! In a matter of a few days Bakersfield got record
amounts of rain and we almost attained our annual rainfall estimate within these
2 short weeks of December! Our canyon roads were blocked due to massive rock slides...down south they were dealing with
unbelievable mudslides and all around workers were busy trying to keep roads clear of water and debris. The city was handing out free sandbags for people who couldn't keep the water away from their homes. I was lucky, my
backyard was a daily lake that would eventually soak up into a
sponge-like marshy
consistency when the rains
stopped, but it stayed away from the house. Mom's house wasn't so lucky...her drains just couldn't keep up as you can see in the photos! On two or three different days I went over to help sweep the water away and twice we had to let
water out of the pool because the rain had caused it to rise so much that it was almost overflowing! However, on Thursday Dec. 23rd (the one in the photos) the water on the patio came all the way in and ended up about 4 inches
deep! On a previous day we'd moved all of the patio furniture as far back as possible but it was not far enough for this day! We'd gotten over an inch of rain in about an hour and it had been steadily raining prior to that! With
the ground already saturated the water had no place to go and after that 1-hour downpour all the planters were overflowing, the pool was overflowing, the neighbors' yard was overflowing into mom's yard and the patio was already underwater! So we opened the main drain in the bottom of the pool (which then sends the water out to the street through a big hose) and got all the water out by sweeping it from the patio into the pool. The pool ended up looking like a swamp but we figured we could fix that later and besides...the planters had been overflowing dirt and worms into it for days now! Our plan had worked--the water was gone and the
forecast actually called for a partially
sunny Christmas Eve with rain expected to return Saturday afternoon for Christmas. We all decided that Friday the 24
th would be the best day to drive to
Exeter to visit Grandma Nita & the cousins to celebrate Christmas because we wouldn't have to wonder if things were flooding while we were gone! Then on Saturday the 25
th with the help of Wayne (really we just helped him) we dug out some of the drain pipes to see why they couldn't move the water out...and what we found
was unreal! Wayne cut a section of pipe and with
plenty of brute force pulled out a snake like clog made of roots, dirt, and God knows what that was a full 4 inches in diameter and at least 3 feet long before it broke! Clearly that anaconda of muck was the reason water struggled to pass through! He got out as much as he could from the pipe that went underneath the cement slab and then replaced the pipe we could get to with a thicker pipe in hopes the roots wouldn't penetrate and grow inside of it again!
So here we are, it's my 2-week Christmas Break and the stinking weather is forecast to be rainy THE WHOLE WEEK!!! Luckily there were a few days of reprieve now and again which was just long enough for things to dry out a bit before the next downpour hit! In a matter of a few days Bakersfield got record amounts of rain and we almost attained our annual rainfall estimate within these 
2 short weeks of December! Our canyon roads were blocked due to massive rock slides...down south they were dealing with unbelievable mudslides and all around workers were busy trying to keep roads clear of water and debris. The city was handing out free sandbags for people who couldn't keep the water away from their homes. I was lucky, my 
backyard was a daily lake that would eventually soak up into a sponge-like marshy consistency when the rains stopped, but it stayed away from the house. Mom's house wasn't so lucky...her drains just couldn't keep up as you can see in the photos! On two or three different days I went over to help sweep the water away and twice we had to let 
water out of the pool because the rain had caused it to rise so much that it was almost overflowing! However, on Thursday Dec. 23rd (the one in the photos) the water on the patio came all the way in and ended up about 4 inches deep! On a previous day we'd moved all of the patio furniture as far back as possible but it was not far enough for this day! We'd gotten over an inch of rain in about an hour and it had been steadily raining prior to that! With 
the ground already saturated the water had no place to go and after that 1-hour downpour all the planters were overflowing, the pool was overflowing, the neighbors' yard was overflowing into mom's yard and the patio was already underwater! So we opened the main drain in the bottom of the pool (which then sends the water out to the street through a big hose) and got all the water out by sweeping it from the patio into the pool. The pool ended up looking like a swamp but we figured we could fix that later and besides...the planters had been overflowing dirt and worms into it for days now! Our plan had worked--the water was gone and the forecast actually called for a partially 
sunny Christmas Eve with rain expected to return Saturday afternoon for Christmas. We all decided that Friday the 24th would be the best day to drive to Exeter to visit Grandma Nita & the cousins to celebrate Christmas because we wouldn't have to wonder if things were flooding while we were gone! Then on Saturday the 25th with the help of Wayne (really we just helped him) we dug out some of the drain pipes to see why they couldn't move the water out...and what we found 
was unreal! Wayne cut a section of pipe and with plenty of brute force pulled out a snake like clog made of roots, dirt, and God knows what that was a full 4 inches in diameter and at least 3 feet long before it broke! Clearly that anaconda of muck was the reason water struggled to pass through! He got out as much as he could from the pipe that went underneath the cement slab and then replaced the pipe we could get to with a thicker pipe in hopes the roots wouldn't penetrate and grow inside of it again!
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